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II 


GHRISTIANITY  IN  JAPAN 


GHRISTIANITY  IN  JAPAN 


1859-1883 


BY 


MASANOBU    ISHIZAKA 

// 


//ERSITY  I 


Dissertation  submitted  to  the  Board  of  University  Studies  of  the  Johns 

Hopkins  University  in  conformity  with  the  requirements 

for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  1895 


XT' 


u^ 


60NTBNTS 


PAGB 

Introduction 9 

Chapter  I— Opening  of  the  Door  to  the  Grospel 13 

Chapter  II — Breaking  up  of  the  Barriera 18 

Chapter  III — Indirect  Obstacles  to  the  Spread  of  Christianity.  .24 

Chapter  IV — Progress  of  the  Work 27 

Chapter  V — Rise  of  the  Nationalistic  Church 33 

Vita 36 


155567 


^ 


VERSITY 

or 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  JAPAN 
INTRODUCTION. 

Christianization  of  Japan  does  not  simply  mean  a  con- 
version of  heathens,  nor  an  uplifting  of  the  ignorant  to  a 
higher  enjoyment  of  civilized  life  as  is  often  supposed  by  the 
American  public ;  but  it  involves  a  far  wider  question.  It  is, 
in  short,  an  attempt  to  reconstruct  the  Oriental  idea  upon 
the  basis  of  the  Occidental  principle,  or  to  implant  the  seeds 
of  Christian  truth  into  already  cultivated  and  fertilized 
soil,  or,  in  other  words,  it  is  another  crusade  of  the  western 
nations  against  the  Asiatic  nations  in  a  different  form  and 
from  different  motives. 

The  struggle  between  the  Orient  and  the  Occident  is 
nothing  new.  For  centuries  the  East  and  West  regarded 
each  other  as  irreconcilable  enemies,  and  the  borders  of  Eu- 
rope were  a  permanent  battlefield  between  these  two  antag- 
onistic forces.  While  they  were  thus  struggling  with  each 
other  there  sprang  up  two  distinct  civilizations,  each  differ- 
ing diametrically  from  the  other.  One,  starting  from  the 
valleys  of  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  went  westward 
through  Europe  and  America  and  developed  into  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  The  other,  rising  at  the  foot  of  the  Hima- 
laya, moved  eastward  to  the  extremity  of  Asia  and  appeared 
in  Buddhism  and  Confucianism.  The  one  characterizes  a 
free  state ;  the  other,  an  absolute  monarchy.  One  is  a  posi- 
tive principle;  the  other^  a  negative  principle.  These  two 
diametrically  opposed  principles,  the  twins  of  the  world's 
history,  which  fought  for  their  supremacy  for  so  many 
centuries  without  ever  coming  to  peaceful  terms,  happen  to 
meet  again  in  Japan  today  after  each  has  completed  its 
civilization  in  its  own  direction.  What  will  be  the  outcome 
of  this  second  meeting?  Will  it  be  the  renewal  of  the  old 
endless  struggle?     Can  the  East  and  the  West  never  be 


10  Christianity  in  Japan 

brought  together  under  one  common  feeling  of  brother- 
hood? If  this  world  was  made  by  more  than  one  creator, 
if  Christ's  gospel  is  intended  for  only  one  race  of  people, 
if  the  sensibilities  of  the  Orientals  and  the  Occidentals  are  so 
constructed  that  they  cannot  share  the  same  feeling  in 
religion  as  well  as  in  other  matters,  then  this  pessimistic 
view  might  be  true.  But  as  we  believe  in  one  God  and  one 
truth  for  all  people,  and  as  there  is  strong  evidence  gathered 
from  different  missionary  fields  that  all  ipen  are  capable  of 
enjoying  the  same  feeling  in  matters  of  religion,  we  have 
good  reason  to  believe  that  this  second  meeting  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  breaking  up  of  the  barriers  which  have  so 
sharply  separated  the  East  from  the  West, — the  first  step 
towards  the  reunion  of  the  sons  of  Adam  into  one  house- 
hold before  the  family  altar  of  Jehovah  after  many  centuries 
of  separation. 

This  anticipaton  does  not  seem  to  be  Utopian.  Already 
it  is  confirmed  by  encouraging  signs.  The  world  has  under- 
gone a  great  change  since  the  two  rival  powers  so  merci- 
lessly contested  on  the  boundaries  of  Europe.  Bitter  feelings 
of  enmity  are  fast  fading  away  and  a  general  friendly  inter- 
course is  more  and  more  prevailing  all  over  the  world. 
Merchants  of  London  and  New  York  can  invest  their  money 
in  the  markets  of  Yokohama  and  Shanghai  today  without 
exposing  it  to  much  danger  while  the  educational  institu- 
tions of  Europe  and  America  have  among  their  alumni  stu- 
dents of  the  far  East.  Such  prevalence  of  general  friendly 
feeling  never  existed  before  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

At  this  favorable  time,  these  two  opposing  principles 
meet  in  that  enterprising  country^  Japan,  where  every  con- 
dition for  such  an  undertaking  is  most  favorable — the  coun- 
try, whose  gate  is  wide  open  to  any  form  of  faith ;  the  coun- 
try, where  each  one  can  speak  for  his  own  religion  and 
criticize  that  of  another  with  perfect  freedom  and  where 
the  leading  men  are  very  little  prejudiced  from  narrow 
dogmatisms  and  intolerable  theology. 

The  great  obstacles  to  the  formation  of  the  universal 


Introduction  11 

kingdom  of  Jehovah  on  earth  have  been  thus  far  the  absence 
of  an  impartial  nation,  which  would  serve  as  an  arbitrator, 
and  the  lack  of  mutual  knowledge,  together  with  narrowness 
of  mind,  and  prejudice.  The  Western  people  regarded 
everything  outside  themselves  as  "barbarism" ;  and  those  of 
the  East,  in  turn,  boasted  of  their  own  civilization  as  the 
only  genuine  one,  each  knowing  in  truth  very  little  of  the 
other.  This  fact  was  well  illustrated  by  an  incident  in  the 
Religious  Congress  in  Chicago,  when  that  great  Hindoo 
Buddhist,  Dharmapala,  asked  the  audience  how  many  of 
them  had  ever  read  the  life  of  Buddha.  To  this  question 
only  five  or  six  hands  were  timidly  raised  in  response  out 
of  that  large  body  of  so-called  scholars  and  doctors  of  re- 
ligion. From  this  we  can  judge  the  ignorance  in  regard 
to  other  religions  on  the  part  of  the  common  people,  who, 
nevertheless,  do  not  hesitate  to  denounce  everything  for- 
eign. But,  in  Japan,  the  people  are  comparatively  free  from 
such  an  egotistic  exclusiveness,  and  they  have  more  im- 
partial and  rational  views  in  matters  of  religion. 

Taking  now  all  these  conditions  into  consideration 
Japan  seems  destined  to  be  the  special  agent  to  accom- 
plish something  never  favorably  attempted  before, — the 
breaking  down  of  old  prejudices  and  the  fulfilling  of  the 
great  plan  of  the  Almighty  to  bring  together  the  whole 
world  into  one  common  feeling  of  brotherhood  and  estab- 
lish a  pure  and  simple  Christianity  devoid  of  western  super- 
stitions and  narrow  dogmatisms.  Japanese  Christians  them- 
selves seem  to  be  conscious  of  this  great  responsibility,  for 
their  whole  attitude  is  turning  more  and  more  toward  this 
direction.  This  is  shown  in  their  repeated  attempts  for 
church  union,  and  the  simplification  of  church  creeds;  in 
their  aversion  to  the  sectarian  idea  and  narrow  theology 
and  in  their  careful  separation  of  pure  Christianity  from 
Americanism  and  Europeanism. 

But  here  the  question  may  arise,  are  the  native  Chris- 
tians able  to  solve  such  a  great  problem?  To  answer  this 
question,  the  editor  of  the  "Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,'^ 


12  Christianity  in  Japan 

says  "No  other  mission  field  in  the  world  displays  so  much 
intellectual  vigor,  and  offers  so  serious  challenge  to  im- 
posed dogma  as  Japan.  At  the  latest  anniversary  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
made  the  point  in  words  as  follows :  'Well,  then,  there  is 
Japan.  Here  again,  we  see  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  dis- 
cussion which  may  remind  us  forcibly  of  the  theological  dis- 
cussion of  the  second,  third^  and  fourth  centuries.  The 
Japanese  are  a  philosophically  minded  people,  an  extremely 
independent  people,  an  original  people.  They  are  not  con- 
tent to  accept  without  question  the  results  of  disputes  in  the 
West,  etc' "  ^  President  Kozaki  ^  also  says  on  this 
point:  "Christianity  in  Japan  has  already  reached  a  stage 
that  no  other  missionary  fields  have  ever  attained.  Their 
native  Christians  not  only  take  a  part  in  all  discussions,  but 
they  are  in  fact  leading  all  kinds  of  discussions,  theological 
as  well  as  practical.  They  are  leading  not  only  in  all  kinds 
of  Christian  work,  literary,  evangelistic,  educational,  and 
charitable^  but  they  are  also  leading  Christian  thought  in 
Japan. 

Such  being  the  situation  the  growth  and  development 
of  Japanese  Christianity  is  of  profound  interest  not  only  to 
the  Japanese  and  their  friends,  but  to  all  who  are  earnestly 
praying  for  and  seeking  after  the  coming  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  universal  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteous- 
ness on  earth. 


*  The  "Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,"  Sept.,  1891. 
'Kozaki's  address  in  the  Congress  of  Religions  in  Chicago. 


^' 


ijnwit 


CHRISTIANITY   IN  JAPAN 


CHAPTER  I. 


OPENING  OF  THE  DOOR. 


The  news  of  the  glorious  success  of  Commodore  Perry 
in  his  famous  mission  to  Japan  aroused  great  enthusiasm 
among  Christians  in  America,  and  the  question  of  sending 
out  missionaries  to  this  newly-opened  country,  for  the  salva- 
tion of  which  they  had  been  praying  for  a  long  time,  was 
earnestly  discussed.  But  this  enthusiasm  was  soon  turned 
into  disappointment  temporarily  when  it  was  learned  that 
Perry's  treaty  did  not  secure  to  the  Americans  the  right  of 
a  permanent  residence  nor  the  exercise  of  religious  freedom. 
As  long  as  this  right  was  not  secured  no  Christian  missionary 
could  establish  a  station  upon  the  land,  for  the  Christian 
religion  had  hot  been  tolerated  in  Japan  for  many  centuries 
because  of  a  peculiarly  strong  prejudice  which  had  a  long 
history  behind  it. 

The  story  of  the  Catholic  mission  in  Japan,  how  it  was 
introduced  and  how  it  was  expelled,  is  a  familiar  one.  Suf- 
fice it  to  state  here  that  the  general  hatred  to  the  "evil  sect" 
and  its  final  expulsion  originated  in  the  fear,  well  grounded 
or  not,  that  the  Spanish  government  would,  in  combination 
with  the  Christians,  form  a  conspiracy. 

After  this  event,  the  strictest  and  most  far-reaching 
system  of  inquisition  was  introduced  by  the  government  in 
order  to  extirpate  every  particle  of  this  faith  from  the 
soil.^    In  the  first  place,  every  citizen  was  required  to  send 

'For  details,  see  Mr.  Okada's  scholarly  articles  in  the  Shiggakai 
Zasshi  (Historical  Magazine),  April,  1891-Jan.,  1892. 


14  Christianity  in  Japan 

in  to  the  government  a  certificate  by  which  the  Buddhist 
priest  guaranteed  ''The  said  person  was  not  a  Christian,  but 
belonged  to  his  parish."  This  was  a  well-devised  policy  on 
the  part  of  the  government  to  make  the  inquisition  thorough, 
for  the  Buddhist  priests  were  the  strongest  rivals  of  the 
Christians,  and  consequently  the  most  zealous  crusaders, 
who  showed  no  mercy  to  a  suspected  person.  This  law  was 
applied  to  all  persons  alike,  but  there  was  another  which 
was  applied  only  to  those  who  newly  renounced  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  It  was  called  "Efumi,"  or  trampHng  upon  the 
picture.  By  it,  a  person  who  had  repented,  was  required 
to  trample  under  foot  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  the 
picture  of  the  crucifixion  to  show  his  sincerity  in  denounc- 
ing his  old  faith. 

Two  kinds  of  oaths  were  taken, — one  to  the  Japanese 
deities,  and  the  other  to  the  Christian  or  ''barbarian"  God. 
The  former  was  for  the  Buddhist  believers,  and  the  latter  for 
the  adjurers  from  the  Christian  faith  to  test  whether  they 
still  had  any  reverence  for  their  old  God. 

All  books  which  had  any  reference  either  directly  or 
indirectly  to  the  Christian  religion  or  any  literature  which 
contained  even  a  single  word  relating  to  God,  Christ,  etc.,. 
were  prohibited  from  circulation  under  strict  censorial  au- 
thority. These  and  other  prohibitory  laws  were  issued  one 
after  another  and  "a  system  of  rules  for  the  regulation  of 
this  inquiry  was  drawn  up  in  which  the  minutest  details  re- 
.  garding  the  search  after  Christians  and  missionaries,  their 
arrest,  imprisonment  were  carefully  entered."  *  They 
were  not  dead  letters,  but  were  practically  executed  with 
zeal. 

The  next  step  the  government  took  was  the  closing  up 
of  seaports.  As  long  as  the  foreigners  were  permitted  to 
reside  among  the  people  and  intermingle  with  them,  it  was 
impossible  to  root  out  the  Christian  faith.     Hence,  all  for- 

*  Gubbin's  Review  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  China 
and  Japan,  Transactions  of  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  35 


Opening  of  the  Door  15 

eigners,  Christians  or  not,  were  ordered  to  leave  the  coun- 
try except  a  Hmited  number  of  Dutch,  who,  for  the  services 
rendered  to  the  government  were  permitted  to  remain  on' a 
small  island  of¥  Nagasaki,  called  Dejima.  The  conditions  on 
which  this  favor  was  granted  were:  "They  shall  not  hold 
any  communication  with  the  'kirishitan'  sect,  nor  bring  any 
missionaries  into  the  country,  but  will  communicate  every 
year  any  information  concerning  the  'kirishitan'  sect,  which 
it  may  be  desirable  for  his  highness  to  hear."'' 

Thus  Japan  cut  off  the  friendly  relation  with  the  West- 
ern peoples  and  became  a  thoroughly  isolated  nation.  Now, 
it  seems  unnatural  that  such  an  adventurous  and  progressive 
people  living  so  close  to  the  continent  should  have  re- 
mained isolated  for  so  long  a  time.  But  this  seeming  un- 
naturalness  shows  the  intense  hatred  of  the  people  toward 
the  Christian  religion. 

Such  being  the  circumstances,  had  Commodore  Perry 
ever  attempted  to  obtain  religious  toleration,  or  even  made 
the  slightest  allusion  to  it,  he  would  not  have  succeeded  in 
that  memorable  mission,  or  at  least,  he  could  not  have 
opened  the  country  without  bloodshed.  Sagacious  as  he  was 
he  well  knew  that  this  was  the  most  delicate  question  with 
the  Japanese  government  and  so  he  carefully  limited  the 
sphere  of  his  negotiation  to  the  commercial  matters,  believ- 
ing that  'Tf,"  to  use  his  own  words,  *'one  were  prosecuted 
to  a  favorable  result,  the  door  would  then  be  opened  for 
success  in  the  other."  Perry's  prediction  was  right.  After 
his  departure  the  appearance  of  many  foreign  fleets,  the 
repeated  warnings  of  the  Dutch,  the  news  of  the  Opium 
War  in  China,  a  better  knowledge  of  the  Western  people, 
these  and  other  forces  combined,  gradually  convinced  the 
government  of  the  necessity  of  giving  further  concessions 
to  the  foreign  powers.  In  1858,  Townsend  Harris,  the 
United  States  Counsel  General,  succeeded  in  making  a  new 
and  more  favorable  treaty  by  which  the  Americans  secured 

°  Trans,  of  Asiatic  Society,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  53. 


16  Christianity  in  Japan 

the  right  of  residence  and  Hberty  of  worship  within  their 
own  settlements.  Thus,  the  prayers  of  earnest  Christians  in 
America  were  finally  answered.  Thus,  the  door  was  opened 
again  for  the  gospel  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise  "Knock 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you." 

Upon  the  receipt  of  these  glad  tidings  the  missionary 
societies  of  the  United  States  entered  into  the  actual  work 
at  once  and  sent  out  missionaries  to  the  field.  The  first  regu- 
larly appointed  missionary  who  appeared  on  Japanese  soil 
was  Rev.  J.  Liggins,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of 
America  who  came  to  Nagasaki  on  May  2,  1859.^  He 
was  soon  followed  by  Rev.  C.  M.  Williams  of  the  same 
church.  This  was  the  first  permanent  Protestant  mission 
established  in  this  empire.'^  Before  the  close  of  the  same 
year  there  were  represented  three  churches  of  the  United 
States,  namely,  the  Episcopalian,  Presbyterian,  and  the  Re- 
formed, in  the  persons  of  Revs.  J.  Liggins,  C.  M.  Williams, 
J.  C.  Hepburn,  S.  R.  Brown,  G.  F.  Verbeck,  and  Dr.  D.  B. 
Simmons.  But  the  prospect  was  very  discouraging.  At  the 
time  of  their  arrival,  the  old  ordinance  against  Christianity 
was  still  in  full  force  and  "missionaries  soon  found  that  they 
were  regarded  with  great  suspicion,  and  closely  watched, 
and  all  intercourse  with  them  was  conducted  with  strict  sur- 
veillance." When  they  wished  to  learn  the  native  language 
"no  teacher  could  be  obtained  at  Kanagawa  until  March, 
i860,  and  then  only  a  spy  in  the  employment  of  the  gov- 


'Rev.  J.  Goble,  of  the  Baptist  Free  Mission  Society,  who  arrived 
as  a  missionary  in  i860,  had  once  before  been  in  Japan  in  1853-54, 
but  at  that  time  he  did  not  come  as  a  missionary,  but  as  one  of  the 
marines  belonging  to  the  fleet  of  Commodore  Perry.  Hence,  he 
cannot  claim  the  honor  of  being  the  first  arrived  missionary. 

^  In  the  islands  of  Loo  Choo  some  British  naval  officers  estab- 
lished a  Loo  Choo  Naval  Mission  some  years  before  the  arrival  of 
Perry,  and  Dr.  Bettelheim  and  Mr.  Moreton  preached  to  the  natives 
for  some  time ;  but  this  was  only  temporary.  It  was  entirely  aban- 
doned a  few  years  later.  See  Hawks'  Perry's  Expedition,  pp.  258, 
572. 


Opening  of  the  Door  17 

ernment."  In  short,  the  missionaries  ''were  regarded  as 
persons  who  had  come  to  seduce  the  mass  of  the  people  from 
their  loyalty  to  the  'God  country,'  and  corrupt  their  morals 
generally."^ 

It  was  about  this  time  that  one  of  the  foremost  states- 
men, Mr.  Kido,  defined  a  missionary  as  "a  man  who  is  sent 
to  Japan  to  teach  the  Japanese  to  break  the  laws  of  their 
country."^ 

In  such  a  state  of  affairs  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
was,  of  course,  hopeless.  Mr.  Williams'  letter  of  June  i8, 
1861,  illustrates  the  situation  of  the  time,  when  he  said 
"There  is  no  proper  missionary  work  to  report.  It  may 
appear  singular  that  so  little  has  been  accomplished,  but  the 
peculiar  difficulties  of  our  situation — the  antecedents  of 
Christianity  in  Japan^  the  jealousy  of  government,  the 
sweeping  clause  in  the  treaty,  that  'Americans  shall  not  do 
anything  calculated  to  excite  religious  animosity,'  the  rami- 
fications of  the  system  of  espionage,  reaching  everywhere, 
alike  the  cottage  of  the  poor,  and  the  'forbidden  inclosure' 
^^  of  the  'son  of  Heaven'  ^^  should  all  be  kept  in  mind. 
When  all  these  things  are  fully  comprehended,  it  will  be  seen 
that  great  caution  is  necessary.  A  false  step  may  be  fatal, 
and  surround  us  with  such  a  host  of  spies,  that  intercourse 
with  the  people  will  be  virtually  cut  off." 

^  Proceedings  of  the  Osaka  Conference,  pp.  30,  31. 

®  Adams'  History  of  Japan,  Vol.  II.,  p.  146. 

^°  The  Imperial  Palace  was  so  called. 

"  The  Mikado  was  considered  the  direct  descendant  of  gods. 


CHAPTER  II. 


BREAKING  UP  OF  THE  BARRIERS. 


Obstacles  so  numerous  and  systematic  to  the  advance- 
ment of  Christianity  seem  at  first  sight  to  be  almost  uncon- 
querable. Indeed,  among  some  Christian  communities  in 
the  United  States  the  discouragement  became  so  intense 
at  one  time  that  serious  doubts  were  entertained  as  to  the 
expediency  of  having  sent  out  missionaries  to  a  country  but 
partially  opened.^  But  a  careful  survey  of  the  real  nature 
of  the  obstacles  will  soon  convince  us  that  they  were  not  so 
formidable  as  they  seemed.  The  Japanese,  as  a  nation,  are 
comparatively  free  from  religious  fanaticism.^  They  did  not 
hate  Christianity  because  it  was  a  religion.  In  other  words, 
it  was  not  religious  fanaticism,  but  political  expediency 
which  made  them  regard  Christianity  as  a  national  enemy.^ 
This  fact  was  clearly  observed  as  early  as  1854  by  the 
chaplain  of  Perry's  fleet.  Rev.  Mr.  Jones,  whose  statement 
sounded  prophetic.  He  said,  in  answer  to  the  question  as  to 
the  prospect  of  presenting  Christianity  to  the  Japanese 
"Apart  from  governmental  influences  I  think  there  would 
be  no  great  difficulty  in  introducing  Christianity.  *  *  * 
I  performed  funeral  services  on  shore  four  times;  once  at 
Yokohama,  twice  at  Hakodate,  and  once  at  Simoda ;  in  every 
instance  in  the  presence  of  Japanese,  and  in  most,  when 


*  See  Proc,  of  the  Osaka  Conference,  p.  36. 

'  In  an  address,  inviting  the  united  prayers  of  the  Christians 
at  home,  the  pioneer  missionaries  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
said  in  1866:  "Contrary  to  the  general  expectation,  it  has  been 
found  that  the  Japanese  generally  do  not  entertain  a  feeling  of 
hostility  to  foreigners,  nor  are  they  bigoted  in  religion.  They  even 
pride  themselves  upon  being  less  stiff." 

*  See  Adams'  History  of  Japan,  Vol.  II.,  146. 


Breaking  up  of  the  Barriers  19 

large  numbers  were  collected.  They  always  behaved  well. 
I  thus  became  known  among  the  people  everywhere  as  a 
Christian  clergyman,  or,  to  follow  their  sign  for  designating 
me,  as  a  'praying  man.'  Instead  of  this  producing  a  shrink- 
ing from  me,  as  I  had  supposed  it  would,  I  found  that  I  had 
decidedly  gained  by  it  in  this  respect,  and  this  among  officials 
as  well  as  commoners.  ^  ^  ^  There  was  no  seeming 
aversion  to  me  because  I  was  a  minister  of  Christianity.  The 
government,  however,  beyond  all  doubt,  is  exceedingly  jeal- 
ous about  our  religion ;  but  the  Japanese  officials,  as  well  as 
the  people,  are  so  inquisitive  and  so  observant  of  all  that 
comes  within  their  reach,  that  doubtless,  after  a  time,  they 
might  be  brought  to  see  the  difference  between  ourselves 
and  the  Romanists."* 

Thus  we  can  see  that  the  real  nature  of  the  obstacles 
was  accidental  rather  than  inherent;  political  rather  than 
religious.  Things  political  cannot,  by  their  own  nature,  be 
so  tenacious  and  permanent  as  things  religious.  They  are 
subject  to  change  according  to  the  conditions  of  the  times. 
Therefore,  while  the  hope  for  the  success  of  Christianity  in 
Japan  was  buried  in  almost  midnight  darkness,  the  dawn  of 
a  better  time  was  slowly  and  unobservedly  approaching  upon 
the  missionaries  from  unexpected  quarters,  and  the  barriers 
against  Christianity,  strong  as  the  walls  of  Jericho,  quietly 
fell  from  within  by  the  pressure  of  the  necessities  of  the 
time. 

The  forces,  which  brought  about  this  innovation  in  the 
public  opinion,  were  many,  but  the  following  are  the  princi- 
pal ones : 

I.  The  bombardment  of  Kagoshima  and  Shimonoseki. 
On  the  refusal  of  indemnity  for  the  wrong  perpetrated  by  the 
retainers  of  the  prince  of  Satsuma  to  a  certain  Englishman 
named  Richardson,  the  British  warships  appeared  off 
Kagoshima  on  the  I2th  of  August,  1862,  and  bombarded  the 
city.    In  spite  of  the  heroic  defence  of  the  Samurai  the  city 

*  Hawks'  Ferry's  Expedition,  516. 


20  Christianity  in  Japan 

was  reduced  to  ashes  and  the  required  indemnity  ^  was  ex- 
torted. Shimonoseki  also  met  with  the  same  treatment  from 
the  combined  forces  of  the  United  States,  England,  France, 
and  Holland.  These  events  opened  the  eyes  of  the  proud 
Samurai,  who,  heretofore,  had  thought  the  expulsion  of  the 
"barbarians"  an  easy  task,  convinced  them  of  the  superiority 
of  the  western  weapons  and  art  of  war  and  converted  them 
into  earnest  advocates  of  the  western  civilization. 

II.  The  awakening  of  a  nationalistic  spirit.  Just  at 
this  time  great  national  enthusiasm  was  aroused  among  the 
people  because  of  the  presence  of  so  many  foreign  enemies. 
As  is  generally  the  case  at  such  a  time  everything  foreign 
was  regarded  as  something  unpatriotic.  This  sentiment  be- 
came so  high  that  the  statesmen  of  the  time,  most  ridiculous 
to  say,  entertained  the  idea  of  creating  a  purely  Japanese  re- 
ligion by  the  hand  of  the  government.  ^Buddhism,  being 
also  of  foreign  origin  and  a  close  ally  of  the  Shogunate  was 
likewise  despised  by  the  patriots.  Not  only  did  it  lose  the 
patronage  of  the  government  after  the  restoration,  but  was 
finally  dispossessed  of  that  important  function  of  giving  a 
religious  certificate  to  every  citizen,  which  once  rendered 
such  efficient  service  in  the  detection  of  Christians."^  Thus, 
the  very  weapons,  which  was  intended  to  weaken  the  foreign 
influence,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  struck  off  one  of  the  bar- 
riers to  the  spread  of  Christianity. 

III.  The  thirst  after  the  western  knowledge.  After 
the  country  was  opened  to  foreigners  a  knowledge  of  west- 
ern affairs  became  a  necessity  to  the  statesmen.  This  led 
some  of  the  thoughtful  men  of  the  country,  who,  in  later 
years  came  to  occupy  the  prominent  places  in  the  govern- 
ment, to  the  study  of  the  English  language  under  the  mis- 


°  $500,000  from  the  Shogunate,  and  $125,000  from  the  Prince 
of  Satsuma. 

'See  the  "Kokiimino  Tomo"  (The  "Nation's  Friend"),  Nov. 
3,  1893- 

^  Anecdote  of  Count  Okuma,  appeared  in  the  "Hochi  Shin- 
bun,"  Sept.,  1893. 


Breaking  up  of  the  Barriers  21 

sionaries,  although  they  regarded  them  as  national  enemies.^ 
But  the  frequency  of  intercourse  gradually  cleared  away  the 
mist  of  suspicion  and  finally  convinced  them  of  their  errone- 
ous conception  regarding  the  real  nature  and  purpose  of  the 
missionaries.  When  these  liberal  men  began  to  direct  the 
national  affairs  the  missionaries  were  their  confidential 
friends  and  some  of  them  were  given  a  place  in  the  gov- 
ernment school.^ 

IV.  The  relations  with  foreign  powers.  Friendly  re- 
lations with  Christian  nations  made  it  necessary  for  the  gov- 
ernment to  respect,  or  at  least  to  treat  their  religion  in  a  more 
respectful  way  than  before.  The  foreign  representatives 
also  exerted  great  efforts  to  secure  the  toleration  of  Christi- 
anity in  Japan.  When  the  restored  Imperial  government 
issued  a  new  edict  against  Christianity,  which  said  "The 
evil  sect  called  Christian  is  strictly  prohibited ;  suspected 
persons  should  be  reported  to  the  proper  office  and  rewards 
will  be  given"^^  and  when  several  hundred  people  in  a  vil- 
lage near  Nagasaki,  called  Urakami,  were  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned on  the  suspicion  of  embracing  Christianity,  the  for- 
eign representatives  made  a  strong  protest  against  this  policy 
as  opposed  to  the  law  of  comity  between  nations  and  as  con- 


^  Protestanism  was  suspected  by  the  people  equally  as  much 
as  Catholicism.  As  late  as  1868  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Tale  of  Nagas- 
aki :  The  Story  of  the  Evil  Sect,"  was  published,  in  which  the  writ- 
ers say:  "Compared  with  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  this  (Protest- 
ant faith)  is  a  very  cunning  doctrine  indeed;  although  they  try  to 
make  out  that  there  is  nothing  abominable  in  it,  they  are  really 
foxes  of  the  same  hole,  and  it  is  really  more  injurious  than  the 
Roman  Catholic  doctrine."    Adams'  History  of  Japan.    Vol.  II. 

®  Counts  Okuma  and  Soyjima,  the  prominent  statesmen  of  to- 
day, studied  English  under  Messrs.  Verbeck  and  Williams.  Through 
Count  Soyjima,  M(r.  Verbeck  later  found  an  appointment  in  Kaisei 
Gakko,  which  afterwards  developed  into  the  Imperial  University  of 
Japan, 

^°  This  edict  was  issued  Oct.  25,  1868. 


22  Christianity  in  Japan 

trary  to  the  liberal  promise  made  at  the  beginning  of  the  new 
administration." 

''On  the  i8th  of  May,"  1871,  according  to  the  Japan 
Weekly  Mail,  ''the  British  Envoy^  Sir  Harry  S.  Parkes,  had 
an  audience  to  take  leave.  The  Mikado,  as  was  natural, 
made  use  of  the  ordinary  expressions  of  regret  in  the  public 
interview.  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  in  reply,  thanked  his  Majesty 
for  his  gracious  words.  *  *  *  xhe  speech  ended  with 
the  usual  expression  of  a  hope  that  his  Majesty  might  be 
spared  many  years  to  conclude  the  reforms  he  had  so  happily 
commenced.  As  a  special  mark  of  esteem  the  British  Min- 
ister was  also  invited  to  a  private  audience  in  one  of  the 
pavilions  in  the  park  attached  to  the  palace.  Advantage  was 
taken  on  both  sides  to  speak  with  less  formality  than  the 
etiquette  of  public  audience  requires.  *  *  *  He 
(Parkes)  then  recommended  the  Mikado  to  place  full  con- 
fidence in  the  foreigners  in  his  employ,  and  he  concluded  by 
observing  that  there  were  still  two  spots  on  the  Japanese 
escutcheon  which  would  have  to  be  removed  before  she 
could  claim  to  rank  with  civilized  countries,  namely,  the 
restriction  of  the  movements  of  foreigners  within  what  are 
called  the  treaty  limits,  and  the  prohibition  against  the  exer- 
cise of  the  Christian  religion  by  natives. "^- 

Although  these  efforts  of  the  foreign  representatives 
did  not  have  the  desired  result  immediately,  yet  the  govern- 
ment became  exceedingly  cautious  in  dealing  with  religious 
affairs  in  the  future  administration,  and  the  law  became 
practically  a  dead  letter. 

V.  The  return  of  ambassadors  from  abroad.  A 
special  embassy  composed  of  distinguished  persons  of 
the  time  was  sent  out  in  1871  to  the  United  States,  and  the 
FAiropean  nations  with  two  objects  in  view,  viz :  the  revision 
of  the  existing  treaty,  and  the  investigation  of  social  and 


"  See    Anecdote   of   Count    Okuma    in   the    "Hochi    Shinbun, 
Sept.,  1893. 

"  See  Adams'  History  of  Japan,  Vol.  IL,  247. 


Breaking  up  of  the  Barriers  23 

political  institutions  of  other  nations.  Concerning  the 
former,  the  embassy  was  a  failure,  but  in  the  latter,  its  suc- 
cess cannot  be  overestimated.  The  ambassadors  submitted 
to  the  government  an  elaborate  report  of  their  observations 
describing  in  the  most  favorable  terms  the  social  and  po- 
litical state  of  the  western  nations,  and  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  religion  upon  society.^^ 

Such  a  glowing  account  of  the  western  people  could 
not  but  affect  the  subsequent  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  this,  in  turn,  could  not  but  react  favorably  upon 
the  spread  of  Christianity.  Indeed,  while  the  embassy  was 
still  on  its  way,  that  obnoxious  law  against  the  "evil  sect" 
was  quietly  removed  from  the  public  notice-board  early  in 
1873,  and  from  that  time  on,  the  exercise  of  Christian  re- 
ligion, though  not  publicly  recognized  by  law  till  1889,  was 
no  more  molested  by  the  state  authority. 

"  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Church 
often  gave  assistance  to  many  Japanese  students  in  the  United  States. 
Messrs.  Iwakura  and  Kido,  during  their  ambassadorial  tour,  made 
an  official  acknowledgment  to  the  Board  of  their  kind  assistance  and 
generous  conduct,  which  served  to  cement  the  friendly  relations  of 
the  two  countries  more  than  all  other  influences  combined.  See 
Nitobe's  United  States  and  Japan,  166. 


CHAPTER  III. 

INDIRECT   OBSTACLES    TO    THE   SPREAD   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Now  the  government  opposition  had  at  last  been  brok- 
en. Could  then  Christianity  march  on  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  whole  country  converting  the  people  in 
its  own  way  without  meeting  a  further  opposition?  Far 
from  it.  The  removal  of  governmental  interference  only 
brought  Christianity  for  the  first  time  face  to  face  with  its 
true  antagonists  to  begin  a  series  of  life  or  death  struggles. 
The  first  enemy  which  Christianity  had  to  encounter 
was  found  in  the  mental  characteristics  of  the  Japanese. 
These  people  pK)ssess  a  strong  taste  for  abstract  reasoning, 
hence  are  directly  opposed  to  the  simple  and  practical  teach- 
ings of  Christianity.  Close  observers  will  easily  find  this 
peculiarity  even  among  children.  *T  have  often  been  utterly 
astounded,"  says  Mr.  Dening,  ''at  the  logic-chopping  power 
of  Japanese  youth  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age."  There" 
is  no  doubt  that  these  peculiar  characteristics  are  mainly  due 
"to  the  nature  of  the  education  imparted.  The  books  which 
infant  students  have  been  first  taught  to  read — the  Japanese 
*Peep  of  Day'  and  'Line  Upon  Line,'  so  to  speak — have  been 
the  Confucian  classics.  Fancy  one  of  our  infants  repeating 
after  his  teacher  at  his  first  lesson  such  sentences  as  the 
following :  'What  the  great  learning  teaches,  is,  to  illustrate 
virtue,  to  renovate  the  people,  and  to  rest  in  the  highest  ex- 
cellence.' *  *  *  'The  point  where  to  rest  being  known, 
the  object  of  pursuit  is  then  determined,'  etc."^  It  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  to  such  minds  the  plain  account  of  the 
Cross  became  a  stumbling  block. 

To  stimulate  this  speculative  tendency  many  anti-Chris- 

^  See   Mr.    Dening's   article   on    Mental    Characteristics   of   Jap- 
anese, Trans,  of  the  Asiatic  Soc.  of  Japan,  Vol.  XIX.,  Part  I.,  p.  i8. 


Indirect  Obstacles  to  the  Spread  of  Christianity    25 

tian  books  of  Europe  and  America,  such  as  the  works  of  Her- 
bert Spencer,  Huxley,  Draper,  Mill,  Buckle,  Alexander  Bain, 
Thomas  Paine,  Robert  Ingersoll,  and  others  were  freely  in- 
troduced. Writings  of  this  kind  were  exactly  fitted  to  the 
taste  of  the  naturally  liberal  minded  Japanese.  They  were 
eagerly  received  and  extensively  read  among  the  young 
students.  When,  therefore,  the  missionaries  came  into  con- 
tact with  the  people  more  freely  they  were  often  placed  in 
the  most  embarrassing  situation  by  their  inability  to  give 
satisfactory  answers  to  the  questions  raised  by  the  young 
students  concerning  the  apparently  contracted  statements 
in  the  Scriptures  as  depicted  by  the  sceptical  writers. 

Another  difficulty  of  more  complicated  nature  inhered 
in  the  ethical  idea  of  the  Japanese.  According  to  their  con- 
ception loyalty  and  filial  piety  are  the  cardinal  virtues  around 
which  all  other  virtues  are  grouped  as  subordinates.  Now, 
the  seeming  disregard  of  these  duties  in  the  Christian  doc- 
trine appeared  to  them  detrimental  to  the  preservation  of 
moral  order  of  society.  Therefore,  many  people  severely 
criticised  the  new  faith  on  this  point.'' 

The  idea  of  death  among  the  Japanese  may  be  men- 
tioned in  this  connection.  There  is  a  wide  difference  be- 
tween the  Japanese  and  the  western  people  regarding  the 
conceptions  of  death  and  future  life.  To  the  western  people 
the  question  of  future  life  is  a  very  serious  one  and  the  most 
indifferent  are  often  bought  to  penitential  tears  by  the  threat- 
ening of  the  final  judgment.  But  such  a  question  has  very 
little  effect  over  the  Japanese.  Their  great  ambition  being 
to  die  bravely  and  honorably  and  leave  behind  them  a 
"fragrant  name,"  it  concerns  them  very  little  what  they  shall 
be  after  death.  At  least  they  pretend  to  be  too  brave  to  think 
of  anything  else  but  a  glorious  death.  Such  an  act,  there- 
fore, as  seeking  after  salvation  through  prayer  and  supplica- 


'  Many  books  were  written  by  the  Shintoists  and  Confucian- 
ists  attacking  Christianity  on  this  point.  Mr.  Yasui's  "Ben  Mo"  was 
the  most  popular  one  among  the  students. 


26  Christianity  in  Japan 

tion  as  taught  in  the  Christian  religion  is  regarded  as  some- 
thing unmanly,  an  act  of  cowardice  and  a  lack  of  heroic 
spirit.  This  is  no  doubt  the  bequest  of  the  feudalism  which 
highly  exalted  the  spirit  of  chivalry.  Closely  associated 
with  this  there  are  many  noble  traits  which  are  woven  into 
the  fabric  of  society.  The  most  striking  one  is  the  kind  dis- 
position of  the  Japanese  toward  their  inferiors  and  the  readi- 
ness to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  weak.  In  contrast  with  the 
western  idea  of  applying  business  principles. to  every  affair 
of  daily  life,  generosity  forms  the  basis  of  society  in  Japan- 
Disregard  of  this  custom  on  the  part  of  foreigners  often  cre- 
ates great  trouble.  Either  from  the  lack  of  knowledge,  or 
simply  from  mere  carelessness^  or  from  their  habit  of  using 
colored  domestics  at  home,  some  missionaries  tried  to  em- 
ploy, in  the  treatment  of  the  Japanese  servants,  coolies  and 
day  laborers,  the  same  iron  rule  to  which  they  had  been  ac- 
customed. This  was  more  than  the  lower  classes  of  the 
Japanese  people,  who,  used  to  an  easy  service,  could  ordin- 
arily bear.  The  result  was  that  not  only  all  missionaries 
were  criticized  as  inhuman,  heartless,  and  cruel  in  direct  op- 
position to  the  doctrine  which  they  preach  with  their  mouth, 
but  their  religion  also  was  criticized  as  having  no  power 
even  over  its  own  ministers.  How  lamentable  that  such 
thoughtless  acts  of  a  few  missionaries  hindered  so  much  the 
cause  of  the  religion  !^ 


*I  purposely  omitted  the  opposition  of  the  Buddhist  be- 
lievers here,  for  the  Buddhist  religion  was  in  a  helpless  condition 
about  this  time,  being  crippled  externally  by  the  withdrawal  of 
governmental  patronage  and  internally  by  the  corruption  of  the 
priests  and  monks.  Their  systematic  opposition  to  Christianity 
belongs  to  the  next  period. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE   WORK. 

It  must  not^  however,  be  supposed  that  no  successful 
work  has  been  done  during  all  these  times.  Before  the  end 
of  1873,  beside  those  missions  already  in  the  field,  the  Bap- 
tist Free  Mission  Society,^  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions,  the  American  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Union,  the  Church  Missionary  Society  of  England, 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Canadian  Methodist  Church 
entered  into  the  country  one  after  another  and  missionary 
stations  were  established  in  Nagasaki,  Kanagawa,  Tokio, 
Kobe,  Osaka,  and  Hakodate. 

In  these  places,  dispensaries  were  opened,  schools  were 
organized,  and  the  Chinese  Bible,  and  other  Christian  litera- 
ture was  introduced,  scattered,  and  taught.  Through  these 
means  the  people  were  gradually  brought  within  the  reach 
of  the  missionaries — some  prompted  by  selfish  motives  and 
others  honestly  seeking  after  the  truth. 

The  first  fruit  was  gathered  in  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Ballagh, 
who  baptized  his  language  teacher  named  Yano  Riu  at  Yo- 
kohama in  October,  1864.  Two  years  later  Dr.  Verbeck 
baptized  two  men  of  high  standing  in  the  south  of  Japan. 
The  circumstances  of  their  conversion  were  so  remarkable 
that  it  is  worth  while  to  mention  them  briefly.  Before  any 
treaty  was  made  with  foreign  powers,  a  British  fleet  entered 
into  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki.  Alarmed  by  the  sudden  ap- 
pearance of  the  strange  warship  the  government  ordered  the 
neighboring  daimios  to  send  their  soldiers  to  protect  the 
shore  and  at  the  same  time  to  prevent  the  ship  from  com- 

^  The    Baptist   Free    Mission   trusted    their   work    in   Japan   to 
the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  in  May,  1872. 


28  Christianity  in  Japan 

municating  with  the  people.  One  of  the  commanders  of  the 
army,  named  Wakasa,  while  exploring  the  harbor  on  a  small 
boat  one  day,  found  a  small  book  floating  on  the  water.  He 
brought  it  back  to  his  camp,  and,  after  inquiries,  he  was 
told  by  a  Dutch  interpreter,  that  it  was  a  Bible  which 
teaches  us  about  God,  the  creator  of  the  universe  and  His 
son  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  This  greatly 
awakened  Wakasa's  curiosity.  Having  learned  that  there 
was  a  Chinese  translation  of  the  same  book  in  Shanghai, 
China,  he  sent  for  it,  and  finally  procured  a  copy.  After 
returning  home  from  the  service  he  induced  four  others  to 
join  him  in  the  study  of  the  curious  book.  Later  they  found 
a  teacher  in  Dr.  Verbeck  at  Nagasaki.  But  as  they  could 
not  come  there  in  person,  owing  to  the  feudal  duties,  mes- 
sengers were  employed  "going  regularly  back  and  forth  be- 
tween teacher  and  pupils,  carrying  inquiries  and  explications 
as  they  came  and  went"  for  nearly  three  years.  In  1866, 
Wakasa  and  his  brother  Ayebe^  were  at  last  given  permis- 
sion to  leave  their  services  for  awhile.  Immediately  com- 
ing to  Nagasaki,  they  were  baptized  by  Dr.  Verbeck  on  the 
day  of  Pentacost,  May  20th.^ 

The  year  1872  is  one  of  the  memorable  dates  in  the 
history  of  Japanese  Christianity.  "In  January,  the  mis- 
sonaries  at  Yokohama  and  the  English-speaking  residents  of 
all  denominations  united  in  the  observance  of  the  Week  of 
Prayer.  Some  Japanese  students  connected  with  the  private 
classes  taught  by  the  missionaries  were  present  through 
curiosity  or  through  a  desire  to  please  their  teachers  and 
some  perhaps  from  a  true  interest  in  Christianity.  It  was 
concluded  to  read  the  Acts  in  course  day  after  day,  and  that 
the  Japanese  present  might  take  part  intelligently  in  the 
service,  the  scripture  of  the  day  was  translated  extemporane- 
ously into  their  language.     The  meetings  grew  in  interest 

^Wakasa  died  in  1872;  but  Ayabe  is  still  living  (1895)  and  is 
a  faithful  member  of  one  of  the  churches  in  Tokio. 

'For  the  minute  account,  see  the  "Gospel  in  all  Lands," 
Sept.,  1889. 


Progress  of  the  Work  29 

and  were  continued  from  week  to  week  until  the  end  of 
February.  After  a  week  or  two  the  Japanese  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  nation  were  on  their  knees  in  a 
Oiristian  prayer  meeting,  entreating  God  with  great  emo- 
tion^ with  tears  streaming  down  their  faces,  that  He  would 
give  His  spirit  to  Japan  as  to  the  early  church  and  to  the 
people  around  the  apostles.  These  prayers  were  character- 
ized by  intense  earnestness.  Captains  of  men-of-war,  Eng- 
lish and  American,  who  witnessed  the  scene,  wrote  to  us, 
'The  prayers  of  these  Japanese  take  the  heart  out  of  us.'  A 
missionary  wrote  that  the  intensity  of  feeling  was  such  that 
he  feared  often  that  he  would  faint  away  in  the  meetings. 
Half  a  dozen  perhaps  of  the  Japanese  thus  publicly  engaged 
in  prayer,  but  the  number  present  was  much  larger.  This 
is  the  record  of  the  first  Japanese  prayer  meeting,"* 

**As  a  direct  fruit  of  these  prayer  meetings  the  first 
Japanese  Christian  church  was  organized  at  Yokohama  on 
March  lo,  1872.  It  consisted  of  nine  young  men  who  were 
baptized  on  that  day  and  two  middle-aged  men  who  had 
been  previously  baptized.  The  members  gave  their  church 
the  Catholic  name  of  'the  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan,'  and 
drew  up  their  own  constitution,  a  simple  evangelical  creed, 
together  with  some  rules  of  church  government,  according 
to  which  the  government  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  pastor 
and  elders  with  the  consent  of  the  members."^ 

In  September  of  the  following  year  there  was  organized 
with  eight  members  through  the  effort  of  Rev.  D.  Thomp- 
son, of  the  Presbyterian  church,  the  first  Protestant  church 
in  Tokio,  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Chin  Sakaye  Church. 
The  members  adopted  the  same  doctrine  and  church  govern- 
ment as  those  of  the  Yokohama  church. 

Alongside  those  who  were  directly  engaged  in  mission- 
ary work  there  were  some  who,  though  not  missonaries,  did 
a  noble  work  for  the  religion.     In  Kumamoto  a  group  of 


Proc.  of  the  Osaka  Conference,  p.  52. 
Proc.  of  the  Osaka  Conference,  53. 


30  Christianity  in  Japan 

young  men,^  who  were  destined  to  form  the  future  corner- 
stone of  the  Kumiai  (Congregation)  church,  was,  in  the 
midst  of  severe  persecutions,  converted  in  1875  under  the 
instruction  of  Captain  L.  L.  Janes,  who  was  invited  by  the 
prince  of  that  place  to  teach  the  pupils  of  his  school. 

In  Sapporo,  a  similar  work  was  done  by  Prof.  W.  S. 
Clark^  among  the  students  of  the  Agricultural  College  and 
one  of  the  earliest  independent  churches  was  established 
by  the  teachers  and  students  of  the  college.  As  the  work 
was  thus  bcoming  more  and  more  extensive,  the  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  the  language  became  imperative.  To  meet 
this  demand  a  convention  of  missionaries  was  called  at 
Yokohama  in  1872,  which  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a 
Bible  translation  committee  which  practically  commenced  its 
work  in  January,  1874.  A  similar  committee  under  the 
name  of  the  Tokio  Bible  Translation  Committee  was  also 
formed  on  October  30,  1876,  at  Tsukiji  at  a  meeting  of  the 
missionaries  of  Tokio.  The  former  committee  undertook  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  latter,  that  of  the 
Old  Testament. 

"In  view,  however,  of  the  number  of  missionaries  of 
various  denominations  being  much  increased  since  1872,  the 
year  of  the  convention,  which  created  that  committee  (Yoko- 
hama), it  seemed  desirable  that  some  new  measures  be 
taken  and  arrangements  made  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
work  of  the  Old  Testament  translation  also."^  Accordingly, 
a  general  convention  of  missionaries  was  called  in  Tokio  on 
the  loth  and  13th  of  May,  1878,  and  there  was  appointed  a 


"Afterwards  they  became  the  pupils  of  that  inspired  educator, 
Mr.  Neesima,  and  they  are  now  champions  of  the  Christian  religion 
in  Japan. 

'Dr.  Clark  came  to  Japan  in  1876  by  the  invitation  of  govern- 
ment to  organize  an  agricultural  college  after  the  plan  of  the 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  of  which  he  was  then  president. 

'  See  Proc.  of  the  Osaka  Conference,  95. 


Progress  of  the  Work  81 

new  committee,^  which  represented  all  Protestant  denomina- 
tions in  Japan,  and  to  whose  hand  was  to  be  entrusted  the 
further  work  of  translation  and  revision  of  both  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  By  mutual  consent  the  Yokohama  and 
Tokio  Translation  Committees  submitted  their  work  to  this 
newly-appointed  committee,  so  that  the  translation  might 
**come  forth  under  the  authorization  of  all  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries in  this  country/'  though  practically  the  same  per- 
sons continued  in  the  work  of  translation,  only  under  a 
different  name. 

The  New  Testament^**  was  finally  completed  in  1880 
after  the  labor  of  about  five  years  and  six  months,  but  the 
Old  Testament  was  not  finished  till  1887. 

The  members  of  the  committee,  who  took  the  most  ac- 
tive part  in  translation,  were  Doctors  J.  C.  Hepburn,  S.  R. 
Brown,  D.  C.  Green,  and  R.  S.  Maclay  among  the  mission- 
aries, and  Messrs.  Maysuyama,  Okuno,  and  Takahashi 
among  the  native  Christians.^^  Their  task  was  an  exceed- 
ingly difficult  one.  "In  this  country^"  said  Dr.  Hepburn, 
senior  member  of  the  New  Testament  Translation  Com- 
mittee, ''where  from  the  earliest  times  the  Chinese  language 
and  literature  have  had  such  a  powerful  influence  upon  the 
cultivation  and  language  of  the  people,  it  was,  at  the  very 
first,  a  matter  of  considerable  anxiety  in  what  literary  style 
our  work  should  be  brought  out,  to  make  it  most  acceptable 
and  useful.  The  conclusion  it  was  desirable  to  arrive  at,  was 
not  difficult  to  be  determined  ;  avoiding,  on  the  one  hand,  the 


"  This  committee  was  called  a  Permanent  Committee  and 
was  given  power  to  "select  a  committee  or  committees  for  the  trans- 
lation, to  whom  they  shall  assign  the  various  parts  of  the  work, 
and  shall  also  appoint  a  General  Revising  Committee." 

^°  The  Yokohama  Committee  had  nearly  completed  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  before  it  submitted  its  work  to  the 
new  committee.  Only  from  Ephesians  to  the  end  of  the  book  was 
left  unfinished. 

"  The  literary  merits  of  the  translation  largely  belong  to 
the  Japanese  members. 


32  Christianity  in  Japan 

quasi-Chinese  style,  intelligible  only  to  the  highly  cultivated, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  vulgar  colloquial,  which,  though 
easily  understood,  might  make  the  Scriptures  contemptible, 
we  should  choose  that  style,  which,  while  respected  even  by 
the  so-called  literati,  was  easy  and  intelligible  to  all  classes. 
We  thus  adhered  to  the  vernacular  or  pure  Japanese,  a  style 
which  may  be  called  classical  and  in  which  many  of  the  best 
books  intended  for  the  common  reader  are  written."^^  "That 
they  performed  this  task  successfully  is  clear  from  the  fact 
that  fifteen  years  of  progress  in  Christian  knowledge  and 
experience  have  created  no  demand  for  its  revision.  *  *  * 
Indeed,  the  Japanese  Bible  is  already  exerting  something  of 
the  same  influence  over  the  Japanese  language  which 
Luther's  version  has  had  over  the  German  tongue."^^ 

^^  Part  of  Dr.  Hepburn's  address  given  at  the  celebration  of 
the  completion  of  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  at  the  Shin 
Sakaye  Church,  Tokio,  April  19,  1880. 

"  Gordon's  An  American  Missionary  in  Japan,  197. 


CHAPTER  V. 

RISE    OF    THE    NATIONALISTIC    CHURCH. 

Although  Christianity  progressed  considerably  during 
these  periods  and  the  number  of  communicants  reached  to 
two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-five  at  the  end  of 
1879,^  yet  it  was  not  till  the  native  workers  became  the 
active  cooperators  of  missionaries  that  efficient  work  was 
done  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  it  was  not  till  the 
Japanese  Christians  became  the  leaders  of  propagandism 
that  the  Christian  influence  was  felt  among  the  people  gen- 
erally. This  is  one  of  the  singular  features  of  the  Japanese 
Christianity  which  we  do  not  find  elsewhere.  The  truth  is 
that  in  other  missionary  fields  the  intellectual  equipments  of 
converts  are  mostly  such  that  they  naturally  look  up  to  mis- 
sionaries as  their  superiors  in  all  kinds  of  Christian  work; 
but,  in  Japan,  a  great  majority  of  the  converts  are  intelligent 
and  ambitious  students  who  first  came  to  the  missionaries, 
or  Christian  teachers,  with  an  earnest  desire  of  acquiring 
western  knowledge.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  wondered  at 
that  they  soon  came  to  overshadow  the  missionaries  in  all  de- 
partments of  work, — evangelical,  literary,  and  educational. 
These  students  were  mostly  men  belonging  to  a  class 
called  Samurai.  Now,  the  men  of  this  class  possess  peculiar 
characteristics.  For  many  centuries  "they  have  been  trained 
to  be  faithful  to  their  feudal  masters  even  unto  death.  The 
spirit  of  patriotism  has  been  handed  down  among  them  from 
generation  to  generation.  To  them  honor  is  everything ; 
life  and  prosperity  are  of  no  account.  They  are  indeed  the 
oriental  knights,  the  spirit  of  Japan,  the  flower  of  the  na- 


^  Proc.    of   the    Eleventh    Annual    Meeting   of   the   Evangelical 
'Alliance  of  Japan,  7. 


34  Christianity  in  Japan 

tion.  It  was  they  who  crushed  the  Shogun's  despotic  gov- 
ernment and  restored  the  reigning  power  to  the  sacred  per- 
sonage of  long  secluded  Mikado.  It  was  they  who  cast  off 
the  old  wornout  Asiatic  system  and  adopted  the  vigorous 
form  of  European  civilization.  It  was  they  who  started 
schools,  pushed  the  press,  cried  out  for  personal  rights,  etc. 
They  are  far  better  educated  than  any  other  class.  They 
are  no  longer  ignorant  worshippers  of  dumb  idols.  Be- 
ing strictly  trained  to  faithfulness  to  their  feudal  masters 
they  will  be  more  faithful  to  the  Master  of  masters  if  He  is 
made  clearly  known  to  them.  Being  middle  in  rank  they 
can  reach  both  the  higher  and  the  lower.  This  may  be  the 
very  class  where  we  may  expect  to  find  a  Saul  of  Tarsus."^ 
Such  importance  being  attached  to  this  class  it  is  plain  that 
the  success  of  Christanity  in  Japan  depended  largely  on  the 
winning  or  losing  of  it.  But  very  few  missionaries  under- 
stood this.  Even  if  they  had  they  would  not  have  been  able 
to  win  over  the  men  of  this  class,  for  "with  all  respect  for 
the  high  motives  which  may  prompt  most  rnissionaries  to 
enter  the  field,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  too  many  of  them  are 
far  from  exemplary  in  their  methods  of  work  or  in  their  in- 
tellectual equipment.  Too  often,  inexperienced,  sanguine 
young  men  go  forth  exuberant  with  the  hope  that  with  their 
meagre  store  of  knowledge  and  experience  they  may  be  able 
to  convince  pagan  philosophy  of  its  errors.  The  result  is 
that  they  find  their  scanty  college  education  inadequate  to 
satisfy  the  intellectual  demands  made  upon  them  by  the 
better  educated  of  the  natives  and  their  small  spiritual  ex- 
perience insufficient  to  guide  the  more  consecrated."^ 

It  is  mainly  due  to  the  genius  of  J.  Hardy  Neesima,* 
the  first  native  missionary,  the  educator,  the  patriot,  and  the 
reformer  that  the  Samurai  class  was  won  over  through  the 


^Hardy's  Life  and  Letters  of  J.  H.  Nessima,  170-171. 
^  Nitobe's  United  States  and  Japan,  130. 

*  For  the   life  of  this   remarkable  man,   see   Hardy's   Life   and 
Letters  of  J.  H,  Neesima. 


Rise  of  the  Nationalistic  Church  35 

instrumentality  of  his  school,^  the  first  systematically  or- 
ganized Christian  college  worthy  of  the  name,  and  later,  by 
his  talented  pupils,  whose  advent  marked  the  dawn  of  a  new 
epoch  in  Japanese  missionary  history,  the  beginning  of  the 
model  church  of  future  Japan, 

It  was  providential  that  Christianity  in  Japan  made  its 
beginning  so  fortunately.  Had  it  been  started  from  the 
lower  classes  of  people,  who  are  ignorant,  superstitious,  and 
consequently,  dependent  upon  missionaries  in  all  matters, 
the  result  would  have  been  the  establishment  of  American 
and  European  Christianity  with  all  its  evils  and  weaknesses. 
Or  had  it  been  introduced  by  the  head  of  the  state,  or  by 
the  higher  classes,  through  mere  political  motives,  the  future 
Japanese  church  would  have  been  a  mere  gathering  place  of 
formalists  and  hypocrites  without  spirituality  and  regenerat- 
ing power.  But  it  has  begun  from  that  remarkable  middle, 
or  Samurai  class,  which  was  alone  able  to  establish  a  strong, 
ideal  church  of  Christ.  Moreover,  this  new  cTiurch  received 
for  the  first  time,  in  the  spring  of  1883,  a  new  experience, 
even  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  most  extraordin- 
ary way,  and  the  young  energetic  Christians,  already  well 
equipped  intellectually,  were  thus  still  better  prepared  for 
the  future  great  responsibility. 

°  This  school  was  boldly  established  in  November,  1875,  in 
Kioto,  which  had  been  for  a  thousand  years  the  capital  of  the 
Mikado  and  the  center  of  Buddhism  and  Shintoism,  having  over 
6,000  temples  and  10,000  priests.  The  school  was  very  successful. 
It  has  now  developed  into  a  university,  having  over  five  hundred 
students.     (1895.) 


-^  or  THF 

'lYERSITY 

or 

^  froi 


VITA. 

Masanobu  Ishizaka  was  born  in  Tokio,  Japan,  in  1861. 
He  received  his  early  education  in  both  Japanese  and 
Chinese,  together  with  the  common  branches  of  education 
under  private  teachers.  Later,  EngHsh  was  also  added.  In 
1878,  he  entered  into  the  Yobimon  (now  the  Higher  Middle 
School  of  the  Imperial  University),  but,  in  1880,  he  moved 
to  the  Tokio  Anglo- Japanese  College,  which  was  then  in 
Yokohama,  and  stayed  with  this  school  till  1889,  at  first 
as  a  pupil,  afterwards  as  a  teacher  and  business  manager  of 
the  college.  In  1889,  he  came  to  Albion  College,  Michigan, 
U.  S.  A.,  and  received  the  degree  of  Ph.  B.  in  1891.  Then 
he  came  to  Baltimore  and  pursued  graduate  courses  in  his- 
tory and  politics  for  three  years.  His  principal  subject  was 
history  and  his  subordinate  studies  were  political  economy 
and  jurisprudence. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHIC3I  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
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Tel.  No.  642-3405 
Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  ^rior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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